Mobile User Identify And Risk/Fraud Model Service

Abstract

Transactions using, for example, Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth, online, or other applications, may pose a risk of fraud or identity theft. According to an embodiment, a method of evaluating transaction information in view of potential fraud and/or risk includes receiving transaction information at a remote location. The method also includes correlating the received transaction information with user data maintained at the remote location. The method further includes generating a score and/or risk or fraud data based on the correlating. Such transactions may be facilitated by a payment service provider. Related methods, devices, and systems are also disclosed.

1 . A method of evaluating transaction information in view of potential fraud and/or risk, the method comprising:
 receiving transaction information at a remote location;   correlating the received transaction information with user data maintained at the remote location; and   generating a score and/or risk or fraud data based on the correlating.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising offering the score and/or risk or fraud data for detection and prevention of identity theft or fraud. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving transaction information further comprises receiving transaction information from a client device over a network. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user data further comprises signature information associated with a client device and a user profile. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising generating fraud alerts based on the user profile, wherein the user profile further comprises number of transactions, or time of day or year associated with a user. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising maintaining the user data in a centralized data storage of the remote location. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the remote location further comprises a payment service provider. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising enhancing the user data with data received from business partners of the payment service provider. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the transaction information further comprises location information of a user. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the transaction information is associated with a user-merchant transaction, a user-user transaction, a merchant-user transaction and/or a merchant-merchant transaction. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the user-merchant transaction, the user-user transaction, the merchant-user transaction and/or the merchant-merchant transaction comprises an NFC application, a Bluetooth application, an infrared communications application and/or an online application. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the generating the score and/or risk or fraud data is done in real time. 
     
     
         13 . A machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by one or more processors of a server are adapted to cause the server to perform the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         14 . A client device comprising:
 one or more processors; and   one or more memories adapted to store a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by the one or more processors are adapted to cause the client device to:
 provide transaction information to a remote location, wherein the transaction information is associated with a user-merchant transaction, a user-user transaction, a merchant-user transaction and/or a merchant-merchant transaction; and 
 provide a user identifier to the remote location wherein the remote location creates user data associated with the client device based on the user identifier so that the user data may be correlated with the transaction information thus allowing generation of potential fraud and/or risk data. 
   
     
     
         15 . The client device of  claim 14 , wherein the machine-readable instructions when executed by the one or more processors are adapted to provide location information of the client device. 
     
     
         16 . The client device of  claim 14 , wherein the machine-readable instructions when executed by the one or more processors are adapted to cause the client device to pass the user identifier with the transaction information to the remote location to permit the transaction information to be stored at the remote location. 
     
     
         17 . The client device of  claim 14 , wherein the remote location comprises a server of a payment service provider. 
     
     
         18 . The client device of  claim 14  further comprising a wireless telephone, a personal computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or a keyfob. 
     
     
         19 . The client device of  claim 14 , wherein the client device is enabled for NFC, Bluetooth, online, and/or infrared communications applications. 
     
     
         20 . A method of providing a fraud engine service, the method comprising:
 maintaining a plurality of transaction records, the transaction records comprising transaction information associated with a plurality of transactions by a user;   receiving new transaction information wherein the new transaction information is associated with a new transaction by the user;   correlating the new transaction information with the maintained plurality of transaction records; and   generating a score or potential fraud data based on the correlation.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising offering the generated score or potential fraud data to subscribers in view of identifying and preventing fraud. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising:
 receiving a user identifier from a client device; and   maintaining a centralized storage of user data based on the user identifier and the plurality of transaction records.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising enriching the user data by obtaining transaction information associated with the user from subscribers. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the plurality of transactions by the user further comprises user-merchant, user-user, merchant-merchant and/or merchant-user transactions. 
     
     
         25 . A machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by one or more processors of a server are adapted to cause the server to perform the method of  claim 20 . 
     
     
         26 . A fraud engine system comprising:
 a plurality of transaction records associated with users, the transaction records comprising transaction information associated with a plurality of user transactions;   one or more processors; and   one or more memories adapted to store a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by the one or more processors are adapted to cause the fraud engine system to:
 maintain the plurality of transaction records associated with the users; 
 receive new transaction information from a client device, wherein the new transaction information is associated with a new user transaction; 
 correlate the new transaction information with the maintained plurality of transaction records; 
 generate a score or potential fraud data based on the correlation; and 
 offer the generated score or potential fraud data to subscribers in view of identifying and preventing fraud. 
   
     
     
         27 . The fraud engine system of  claim 26 , wherein the machine-readable instructions when executed by the one or more processors are adapted to cause the fraud engine system to:
 receive a user identifier from the client device; and   maintain a centralized storage of user data based on the user identifier and the plurality of transaction records.   
     
     
         28 . The fraud engine system of  claim 27 , further comprising enriching the user data with transaction data obtained from subscribers. 
     
     
         29 . The fraud engine system of  claim 26  further comprising a payment service provider service. 
     
     
         30 . The fraud engine system of  claim 26 , wherein the client device comprises a wireless telephone, a personal computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or a keyfob. 
     
     
         31 . The fraud engine system of  claim 26 , wherein the client device is enabled for NFC, Bluetooth, online, and/or infrared communications applications. 
     
     
         32 . The fraud engine system of  claim 26 , wherein the plurality of transaction records associated with the users further comprises user-merchant, user-user, merchant-merchant and/or merchant-user transactions. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the score or potential fraud data is generated in real time.